The resilient nature of adjectival inflection in Dutch

2014 ◽  
pp. 113-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Freek Van de Velde ◽  
Fred Weerman
Keyword(s):  
Adjectival Inflection

L3 acquisition of German adjectival inflection: A generative account

2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Jaensch
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Third Language ◽  
Third Language Acquisition ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
L3 Acquisition ◽  
Adjectival Inflection ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Grammatical Number ◽  
Syntactic Properties

Studies testing the knowledge of syntactic properties have resulted in two potentially contrasting proposals in relation to third language acquisition (TLA); the Cumulative Enhancement Model (Flynn et al., 2004), which proposes that previously learned languages will positively affect the acquisition of a third language (L3); and the ‘second language (L2) status factor’ hypothesis (Bardel and Falk, 2007), which proposes that the primacy of the L2 can block the potential positive effects that may be transferable from the first language (L1). This article attempts to extend these hypotheses to the domain of morphosyntax, in relation to the TLA of the properties of grammatical number and gender concord marking on German attributive adjectives; these properties not present in the L1 of Japanese, or the L2 of English. Two further factors are of interest in the current study; first, the performance of the learners according to their L3 and their L2 proficiency levels, a variable not discussed in the above-mentioned studies; and, second, the role that the type of task has on the performance of these learners. Three groups of Japanese native speakers (matched for proficiency within each German group), but with differing English proficiencies, completed a carefully balanced gap-filling task, together with two oral elicitation tasks in the form of games; both of these elicited tokens of adjectival inflection. Initial results offer partial support for weaker versions of the two hypotheses mentioned above. However, neither of the L3 models tested can fully account for the results obtained, which are more consistent with a feature-based account of the organization of grammar in the domain of morphosyntax, such as that of Distributed Morphology (DM) (Halle and Marantz, 1993). DM is a model for language acquisition which — coupled with a view that the Subset Principle proposed by this account is not observed by non-primary language learners — has recently been proposed to explain the optionality observed in L2 learners’ production (Hawkins et al., 2006). The data presented here suggest that it could be extended to L3 learners’ production.

scholarly journals Ethnolect speakers and Dutch partitive adjectival inflection

2015 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Pijpops ◽  
Freek Van de Velde
Keyword(s):  
Adjectival Inflection

On the grammaticalization of Japanese verbal negative marker

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-101
Author(s):  
Hideki Kishimoto
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
The Other ◽  
Functional Category ◽  
Common Source ◽  
Trace Back ◽  
Adjectival Inflection ◽  
Negative Adjective ◽  
Idiomatic Expressions ◽  
Negative Marker ◽  
The Common

Abstract In Japanese, the verbal negative marker nai appears in both negated verbs (as a sentential negator) and compound negative adjectives (as an affix). Negative nai used as a sentential negator is a syntactically independent word devoid of adjectival properties despite its adjectival inflection, whereas negative nai appearing in negative adjectives is a derivational affix. On the basis of idiomatic expressions, the present article argues that the lexical word nai ‘null, empty’ has developed into the affix nai while retaining its lexical properties via morphologization. On the other hand, the functional negator nai is argued to have emerged from the same lexical word nai via decategorialization, which induces a shift from a lexical to a functional category. The analysis taking the two uses of nai to trace back to the common source of the lexical negative adjective word nai provides a natural account for why nai has these two totally different uses.

Morphological Features and Markedness in the Old French Noun Declension

1987 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas C. Walker
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
Morphological Analysis ◽  
Morphological Structure ◽  
Old French ◽  
Morphological Features ◽  
Historical Change ◽  
General Properties ◽  
Morphological Studies ◽  
Adjectival Inflection

In the evolution of morphological studies, morphological features and markedness have come to play increasingly important rôles. Feature notation in morphology allows the development of the notion of natural morphological class, renders explicit much of the internal structure of paradigms and permits the exploitation, suitably adapted, of many of the results obtained in phonology. Markedness considerations, particularly when linked to general theories of morphology, again highlight morphological structure, constrain the variety of permitted analyses, and indicate, at least in part, the expected direction of historical change. In the sections to follow, I will present an analysis of Old French nominal and adjectival inflection which makes key use of morphological features and the differences between the marked and unmarked values of these features. This study will be particularly concerned with constraining the morphological analysis of Old French and conversely, with using Old French data to investigate more general properties of morphological systems.

Adjectival Inflection and the Position of Measure Phrases

2011 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 490-507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akira Watanabe
Keyword(s):  
Measure Phrases ◽  
Measure Phrase ◽  
Adjectival Inflection ◽  
The Subject

Corver (2009) accounts for the postadjectival placement of the measure phrase in Romance by preposing the adjectival phrase over the measure phrase. I show that this movement serves to avoid violating locality when the T head tries to enter into a multiple agreement relation with the adjective as well as with the subject. I also suggest that the feature content of the potentially intervening measure phrase influences the range of parametric options.

scholarly journals Hindi nominal suffixes are bimorphemic: A Distributed Morphology analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Yash Sinha
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
The Other ◽  
Distributed Morphology ◽  
Morphological Operations ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Morphology Analysis ◽  
Adjectival Inflection ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Right ◽  
Phonological Rules

This paper provides a Distributed Morphology (DM) analysis for Hindi nominal (noun and adjectival) inflection. Contra Singh & Sarma (2010), I argue that nominal suffixes contain two morphemes – a basic morpheme, and a restrictedly distributed additional morpheme. The presence of two different morphemes is especially evident when one compares noun and adjectival inflectional suffixes, which Singh & Sarma (2010) do not, since they only look at noun inflection.  I also show that the so-called adjectival inflectional suffixes are not limited to adjectives, and may occur on nouns, provided the noun is not at the right edge of the noun phrase. On the other hand, the regular noun inflection is only limited to nouns at the right edge of the noun phrase. This is demonstrated using a type of coordinative compound found in Hindi. Then, I take the fact that nouns can take either the regular noun inflection or the so-called “adjectival” inflection as motivation for a unified analysis for both sets of suffixes. I demonstrate that after undoing certain phonological rules, the difference between the “adjectival” and regular noun inflectional suffixes can be summarized by saying that the additional morpheme only surfaces in the regular noun inflectional suffixes. Finally, I provide vocabulary entries and morphological operations that can capture the facts about the distribution of the various basic and additional morphemes.

Morphology in Altaic Languages

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aslı Göksel
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Morphological Operations ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Auxiliary Verbs ◽  
Semantic Categories ◽  
Base Modification ◽  
Adjectival Inflection ◽  
Word Classes ◽  
Subject Agreement ◽  
Case Markers

The Altaic languages (Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic) are spread across Eurasia, from Central Asia to the Middle East and the Balkans. The genetic affinity between these subgroups has not been definitively established but the commonality among features and patterns points to some linguistic connections. The main morphological operations in Altaic languages are suffixation and compounding. Generally regarded as morphologically regular with easily identifiable suffixes in which there are clear form-meaning correspondences, the languages, nevertheless, show irregularities in many domains of the phonological exponents of morphosyntactic features, such as base modification, cumulative exponence, and syncretism. Nouns are inflected for number, person, and case. Case markers can express structural relations between noun phrases and other constituents, or they can act as adpositions. Only very few of the Altaic languages have adjectival inflection. Verbs are inflected for voice, negation, tense, aspect, modality, and, in most of the languages subject agreement, varying between one and five person-number paradigms. Subject agreement is expressed through first, second, and third persons singular and plural. In the expression of tense, aspect, and modality, Altaic languages employ predominantly suffixing and compound verb formations, which involve auxiliary verbs. Inflected finite verbs can stand on their own and form propositions, and as a result, information structure can be expressed within a polymorphic word through prosodic means. Affix order is mostly fixed and mismatches occur between morpholotactic constraints and syntactico-semantic requirements. Ellipsis can occur between coordinated words. Derivational morphology is productive and occurs between and within the major word classes of nominals and verbs. Semantic categories can block other semantic categories.

Adjectival inflection and the licensing of empty categories in DP

1996 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen-Petra Kester
Keyword(s):  
Crucial Role ◽  
Adjectival Inflection ◽  
Empty Categories ◽  
Null Noun

This paper is about the licensing conditions on empty categories in DP, dealing in particular with the distribution of the null noun pro in adjectival contexts. I will show that N-pro is submitted to requirements of formal licensing and identification, in which inflexional morphology plays a crucial role. Under this scenario, the contrast between English and other languages with respect to N-pro can be attributed to the absence versus presence of inflexional morphology within the nominal domain.

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